Karnataka govt to back deeptech startups with special grants

The Karnataka government has unveiled a new policy to support the deeptech startups as it aims to strengthen the technology leadership of the state, not just in the country but also across the globe.

The Elevate Next (Deeptech) programme of the Karnataka government, which was announced at the ongoing Bengaluru Tech Summit 2025 which will provide grants ranging from Rs 50 lakh to Rs one crore to 40 such startups.

Karnataka IT & BT Minister Priyank Kharge also announced another initiative, which aims to deepen the startup ecosystem in the State by extending it beyond the capital city of Bengaluru. This is the Elevate Beyond Bengaluru, which is designed to accelerate entrepreneurial growth in Tier II and III cities.

Kharge said, “These flagship programmes will decentralise opportunities, foster vibrant innovation hubs across the state, and ensure that Karnataka’s startup story remains inclusive, future-ready, and globally competitive.”

The minister also said the government is focusing heavily on the deeptech segment with the goal that over the next ten years, these deeptech startups will be able to solve some of the real-life challenges.

At BTS 2025, the Bengaluru Innovation Report 2025 was released, which highlighted the strides made by the State in the segments of technology and startups. Today, Bengaluru leads in terms of AI funding share and hiring intent.

Accel India Founding Partner Prashanth Prakash noted that the city of Bengaluru continues to attract all the elements of talent, entrepreneurs and capital, which is expanding the startup ecosystem in the state, and this is now being extended to the deeptech segment.

“It is very heartening to see that entrepreneurs like the many of previous generations are coming to Bengaluru to build those (deeptech) startups,” he remarked and further added that this is only going to drive the innovation engine of the country.

Siddharth Pai, founding partner of 3one4 Capital, said Bengaluru alone has around 2.5 million software engineers out of the total population of 14 million. “We have actually seen numerous cases of entrepreneurs actually coming to the city to showcase their potential,” he remarked.

B V Naidu, Chairman, Karnataka Digital Economy Mission, said the big positive about Karnataka is that the technology industry is spread across all the segments, be it IT, GCCs, semiconductor and startups.

“Bengaluru is the only place in the country where all these sectors are growing,” he said.